Australia's Adam Scott wins the Masters

April 15, 2013

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Augusta, Apr 15: Adam Scott sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole on Sunday to beat Angel Cabrera and win the 77th Masters, becoming the first Australian golfer to capture the green jacket.

Nine months after making bogeys on the last four holes to squander a British Open lead at Royal Lytham and two years after sharing second at the Masters, the 32-year-old from Adelaide won his first major title in impressive fashion.

"I don't know how that happened," Scott said. "It seems a long, long way from a couple years ago, or last July when I was trying to win a major. It was incredible."

Scott and Cabrera both birdied the 18th hole to finish deadlocked after 72 holes on nine-under par 279. Each parred the hole again to open the playoff and both had birdie putts at the second playoff hole, the par-4 10th.

Cabrera just missed his 12-footer and Scott followed with his winning putt, thrusting his arms into the air with joy after the ball curled into the cup to signal the end of a journey from Down Under to the top of the golf world.

It was Scott's second celebration after an emotional 20-foot birdie at 18 in regulation that Cabrera matched with a stunning approach to four feet and a birdie putt of his own.

"There was a split second I thought I had won," Scott admitted. "You never count your chickens. It was time to step up and see how much I wanted it."

Cabrera, the 2007 US Open and 2009 Masters champion, shared a hug with Scott after the final putt.

"That's how golf is," Cabrera said. "I came back. I had my chance to win it. Adam is truly a good winner. He's a great person and a great player and I'm happy for him."

Cabrera would have been the second-oldest Masters champion at 43, trailing only Jack Nicklaus winning the 1986 Masters at age 46. The 43-year-old grandfather is ranked 269th in the world.

Australian Jason Day was third on 281, two strokes ahead of world number one Tiger Woods and Aussie Marc Leishman with Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen and American Brandt Snedeker sharing sixth on 284.

Woods, a 14-time major champion who has never won a major when he did not at least share the 54-hole lead, has not won a major title since the 2008 US Open and not won the Masters since taking his fourth green jacket in 2005.

The Masters was the only major that no Aussie had won, the Augusta National jinx a painful jinx -- now shattered forever -- that included three heartbreaking defeats for two-time British Open champion Greg Norman.

Norman took a bogey at the 18th in the 1986 Masters to hand Jack Nicklaus his 18th and last major title. In 1987, Norman lost a Masters playoff when Augusta native Larry Mize holed a miraculous chip shot.

In 1996, Norman suffered the greatest last-round collapse in major golf history, leading by six over Nick Faldo only to lose by five to the Englishman.

"He inspired a nation of golfers," Scott said. "Part of this definitely belongs to him."

Scott and Day shared second in 2011, falling short when South African Charl Schwartzel became the first man to birdie the last four holes to win a major.

Scott, who uses an anchored putting stroke, fired a 69 and Cabrera a 70 in the last round.

Day could only watch Scott and Cabrera make their stunning shots at the 18th hole and ponder what might have been.

A day after closing with back-to-back bogeys, Day opened with a birdie and followed with an eagle at the par-5 second, but stumbled back with bogeys at the par-3 sixth and par-4 ninth.

Day ripped off a run of three birdies in a row starting at the par-5 13th to put himself into the lead, but bogeys at the 16th and 17th left him third after a closing 70.

"It was really tough," Day said. "Pressure got to me a little bit."

Woods, fell eight strokes off the lead before making a late charge that came up short, firing a 70 to share fourth.

"I played well," Woods said. "Unfortunately I just didn't make enough putts. I certainly had an opportunity. I thought if I shot 65 I could win it outright."

Bogeys at the fifth and seventh dropped Woods back, but he birdied the ninth and 10th, then the par-5 13th and 15th to reach five under, unable to gain enough ground on the leaders on the wet, undulating greens of Augusta National.

"I had a hard time getting accustomed to the speed," Woods said. "It was so much slower with the rain. I left every putt short."

Guan Tianlang, the 14-year-old Chinese schoolboy who is the youngest player in Masters history, fired a 75 to finish on 12-over 300. He will receive the low amateur's Silver Cup.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

Mumbai, Jun 7: The Mumbai airport became home for a 23-year-old Ghanaian footballer for 74 days after he got stranded there due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown that led to cancellation of flights.

The ordeal of Randy Juan Muller reminded people of Tom Hank's character in the Hollywood film "The Terminal", and it ended after Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, reached out to help him.

Muller has now shifted to a local hotel and is waiting for airlines to resume operations so that he can fly home.

The Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) also provided him all help, including food, and allowed him to use the airport WiFi network to make calls, an official said.

Muller, a Ghana national who used to play for a club in Kerala, was scheduled to fly home by Kenya Airways flight when the lockdown was announced and he found himself stranded at the Mumbai airport.

"He would spend his time at the airport's fancy artificial gardens and somehow buy food from stalls and pass his time with the airport staff. Muller told me the airport staff was very helpful," Yuva Sena office-bearer Rahul Kanal said.

A security officer at the airport gave him mobile phone to call his family back home.

A Twitter user brought Muller's plight to the notice of Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray following which Kanal reached out to the footballer and helped him move into a hotel.

On Saturday, Muller thanked Thackeray and Kanal for their help.

"Thank you Aaditya Thackeray, Rahul Kanal. Thank you very very so much. I appreciate what you have done. Salute," he said.

Kanal in a tweet said when he met Muller at the airport, the latter cried with happiness.

"Have no words to salute his willpower and fight for survival in such circumstances at this age," Kanal said.

An official at the Mumbai International Airport Ltd said the footballer was provided all help.

"All personnel at the airport, including from MIAL and CISF, gave him every possible help during his stay at the airport. Besides food, he was also allowed to use the airport WiFi network to make calls. Airport staff would recharge his phone at their own expense," the official said.

The 2004 film "Terminal" of Steven Spielberg was about a man stranded at a US airport after being denied entry into the country and a military coup back home.

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News Network
July 26,2020

Chennai, Jul 26: Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand suffered his fifth straight defeat in the USD 150,000 Legends of Chess online tournament, going down 2-3 to Peter Leko of Hungry.

The former world champion got off to a good start and won the first game of the best-of-four contest. The next two games were drawn before Leko levelled by winning the fourth.

The Hungarian then claimed the Armageddon (a tie-breaker) to ensure Anand remain winless and at the bottom of the points table.

Anand, who is making his maiden appearance on the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, had earlier lost to Peter Svidler, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri.

World no. 1 Carlsen bounced back strongly to avoid an upset, beating veteran Vasyl Ivanchuk 3-2 to stay on top.

Legends of Chess is a unique event where Carlsen, Liren, Nepomniachtchi and Giri, semifinalists at the Chessable Masters (part of the Magnus Carlsen Tour), received an automatic invite and are up against six legends aged 40-52, who have been at the top of world chess at various points in their career.

The tournament is part of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. The winner of this event will qualify for the USD 300,000 Grand Final scheduled from August 9 to 20.

Results of Round 5: Peter Leko beat Viswanathan Anand 3-2; Magnus Carlsen beat Vasyl Ivanchuk 3-2: Vladmir Kramnik beat Ding Liren 2.5-1.5; Anish Giri beat Boris Gelfand 2.5-1.5; Ian Nepominiachtchi beat Peter Svidler 3-1. 

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News Network
July 24,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 24: Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was earlier banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for breaching the Anti-Corruption Code, on Friday, said that people are bound to make mistakes and the important thing is that how well they make a comeback.

Shakib was banned from all forms of cricket on October 29 last year after he accepted the charges of breaching the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code. He will be able to resume international cricket from October 29, 2020.

"You have to be honest. You just can't lie to the people and pretend different things. Whatever happened has happened. People are bound to make mistakes. You are not 100%. The important thing is how well you can comeback from those mistakes. You can tell other people not to make those mistakes. Tell them the path so that they never take those paths," Shakib told Deep Dasgupta in a videocast hosted by ESPNcricinfo.

The 33-year-old all-rounder said he has seen many controversies ever since he was first made captain in 2009. He had trouble with the board chief, selectors and the media, mainly about selectorial decisions and not being made permanent captain between 2009 and 2010.
He believes those experiences have changed him as a person over time.

"I think [it's] combination of both [controversy following him, and vice versa]. I got the responsibility so early in my career, I was bound to make mistakes. I was captain when I was 21. I made a lot of mistakes, and there are so many things that people think about me. Now I realise that it was my fault in some areas, and in some I was misunderstood. But I get it completely. It is part and parcel in the subcontinent," Hasan said.

"Of course I will try to minimise [my mistakes] as much as I can, but by the time I got married, and now I have two kids, I understand the game and life better. It has made me a calmer person than I was in my twenties. I have changed quite a lot. People won't see me doing a lot of mistakes now. My two daughters changed my life completely," he added.

Shakib is likely return to international cricket during Bangladesh's proposed Test series against Sri Lanka in October. 

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